Clockwise from upper left: Josh Cheuse; Paul Brown; DH Lovelife; Anna Knowldon
Clockwise from upper left: Josh Cheuse; Paul Brown; DH Lovelife; Anna Knowldon2019 came to a close with a flurry of reunion announcements from bands that seemed long dead.
On November 11 came word of the reconciliation of possibly the biggest brother feud in rock to not feature a Gallagher. Chris and Rich Robinson announced the reformation of The Black Crowes, who’d previously broken up in 2015. To celebrate the news, the Southern rockers played intimate shows on November 11 in New York City and November 14 in Los Angeles, and will launch a massive tour in JUne 2020 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of their 1990 debut album, Shake Your Money Maker.
Later in November, Mötley Crüe revealed that they also were returning to the stage, four years after the ’80s metallers played what they billed as their last show on New Year’s Eve 2015. In order to tour again, the Crüe had to tear up their “cessation of touring agreement,” which they had signed ahead of their final tour in order to legally prevent them from ever playing live together again.
The tour will kick off in July 2020, and also will feature Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.
The reunion was partly inspired by the response to the band’s Netflix biopic The Dirt, which had premiered earlier in the year. The Crüe recorded three new songs for the film, including the Machine Gun Kelly-featuring “The Dirt (Est. 1981).”
Finally, Red Hot Chili Peppers announced that on-again, off-again guitarist John Frusciante had rejoined the band. Frusciante had originally joined the Peppers in 1988 before leaving in 1992. He then returned in 1998 and remained with the group until 2009.
Now back in the fold for a third time, Frusciante takes the place of the guitarist who replaced him in 2009, Josh Klinghoffer.
Meanwhile, a couple of veteran bands, Heart and Neil Young & Crazy Horse, mounted not-that-surprising reunions of their own earlier in 2019.
Heart ended an almost-three-year hiatus that stemmed from a rift between sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson that began after Ann’s husband was arrested and jailed for assaulting Nancy’s twin teenage sons backstage at a Seattle-area show last August 2016.
With things patched up between the Wilson sisters, the band headlined the Love Alive Tour, which featured a variety of female opening acts including Joan Jett, Sheryl Crow, Elle King and Brandi Carlile. The lengthy trek ran from July to October.
As for Neil Young, he played a handful of shows in 2018 with Crazy Horse — who welcomed back former member Nils Lofgren to replace longtime guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro after Sampedro decided to retire. In 2019, Neil teamed up with Crazy Horse to record and release a new studio album, Colorado, his first with the group since 2012’s Psychedelic Pill. A documentary focusing on the making of the album, called Mountaintop, premiered in October, a few days before Colorado‘s release.
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